The Strays
by VioletDelightsEnd
Summary: AU. When Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a child, she had an encounter with a cheeky kitten and has no recollection about it. However, when her twin sister Bridgette goes missing. The only person who can help find her sister, is the cat boy she deemed as an imaginary friend. And, she would be running with stray cats, who need a queen to help their true king cat rule once again.


Hello, this has been on my mind for awhile. This is sort of rewrite from my old story cat's eye. However, the plot is totally different, and I wanted to polish it with this new inspiration I had. Any feedback would be helpful and I hope you will enjoy!:]

 **Disclaimer: Don't own Miraculous Ladybugs**

 **Prologue**

Tom Dupain-Cheng parked his cruiser in front of the glamorous building called The Bourgeois Motel. He straightened his badge up for good measure, so those damn felines would remember that he's the proud sheriff of Paris. He got out of his cruiser, with an umbrella in hand, and reluctantly opened the passenger side. Who slowly came out was his shy ten-year-old daughter named Marinette. Tom sent out a silent thank you to whoever was up there. Marinette's twin sister, Bridgette, could be a bit of a handful. Tom still hated that poor Marinette had a nasty cold, which made him end up taking her out of school early. His wife, Sabine, was out of the country to visit a sick relative. It was only him in charge, so he really had no choice, but to take Marinette to this quick stop for police business. It didn't sit well with him to bring her to the Miraculous Cat's pride den. Most Humans didn't know that an element of supernatural tainted the Earth. There were a few exceptions: the police force, the medical field, judges/lawyers, and of course the realms of politicians/royalties. However, if you ever squealed their secret to outsiders, Tom wasn't an idiot to know what would happen. Unless they're loyal family members, like Tom's family of course, but to strangers, not so much.

They entered the luxurious hotel, where crystal chandeliers dotted the high ceilings, and there was a spiral staircase that looped itself with golden beauty. The only residents of this glorious hotel was the Miraculous Cat's pride, so this was basically their territory, if Tom wanted to be a bit animalistic here. The the only humans that resided here were the mayor and his younger daughter Chloe Bourgeois. Tom looked down at his daughter, who had attached her hand on his uniform, and he couldn't help but hide his sympathy. He knew this Chloe girl picked on Marinette a lot, even some of those other little snot faces. Tom always interrogated Marinette about it, but she always brushed it off with a smile, even though he always went to the principal's office to pick up Bridgette for beating up those little shits. If Marinette didn't have her sister, Tom realized Marinette wouldn't really have any friends, which was a sad thought. He hoped Bridgette could continue to bring Marinette out of her shell. Then one day, by a miraculous miracle, Marinette could finally bloom out her wonderful character.

A harsher tug on his uniform brought Tom back to reality. Tom now faced the pride king, the one and only, King Gabriel Agreste. Tom was bigger than Gabriel, but the way Gabriel posture himself, Gabriel took the win with intimidating. Tom fought the urge to gulp in apprehension, even though he could feel himself start to sweat. Gabriel had his perfect eyebrow up in amusement, which made Tom grumble at the pretty king's arrogance. Gabriel's cold and calculated eyes fell upon his daughter. Tom quickly leaned Marinette closer to him as he glared at the king in warning. Gabriel tilted his head slightly, a cat code, which interpreted of no threat. Tom was so glad he enlightened himself with miraculous cat's customs. If he didn't, he would have been at a loss for other personal cases.

"I didn't expect you to bring a young cub, I mean, a child," Gabriel greeted without faltering his mistaken word choice for Marinette.

"Yes, I apologize, Mr. Agreste. I had to bring my daughter out of school early and there's no one to watch her," Tom explained easily, with a hunch that they already knew that Gabriel could probably sense her sickness.

"I see, as long as she behaves, while we talk business in my office. I'm sure we will have no problem…" Gabriel's eyes lingered at Marinette while he spoke. Marinette shifted her boots nervously and had taken a liking at her fixation on the ceiling

"Please follow me," Gabriel ordered before they went down the spiral staircase.

When they came down the stairs, they came across two French golden doors, and Gabriel inclined his head for Marinette to wait outside on the soft chair. Gabriel assured Tom that no one would dare touch her before he went inside his office. Tom dropped down to Marinette's level as she slowly got on the chair. She fiddled with her hand-made, bedazzled backpack, which portrayed her creative sense of style.

"Alright, sweetie, I just have to talk Mr. Agreste for awhile. Remember to not point and stare if you see… someone with fur," Tom finished with a forced laugh, which earned him a giggle from his daughter.

"Don't worry, dad, go and do your grown up talk," She told him with sniffles before she nudged him gently.

With that, Tom went inside to discuss about the miraculous cats going akumatized, which meant going savage in human sense. Tom had no idea once he entered the office, he let fate do wonders for his little girl.

XXX

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was bored as she waited for her father. She felt a little guilty since she wasn't sick to begin with. Marinette faked her cold, she may seem all cute and innocent, but Bridgette taught her well how to be a conniving sneak. If Marinette wasn't so passionate on being a fashion designer, she would have loved to be an actress, but the spotlight terrified her. Playing the sick girl with a nasty cold in front of the teachers and her dad didn't give her butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Marinette hated school, but she always hungered for knowledge. She didn't really have a lot of friends, unlike her twin sister that had her own little group, but Bridgette always made sure she was included. For once, it would be nice not to be chosen last for a team, even though Marinette had some athletic build in her tiny frame.

She sighed as she dragged out her times table sheet. Marinette decided to work on her math homework, which always killed some time because math was her sworn enemy. Math was even eviler than her school bully Chloe, which was saying something because Marinette did not like Chloe Bourgeois at all. Marinette focused on her math problem, not being distracted by her thoughts of her tormentor, and how her said tormentor made her felt like a total loser. Marinette wished, she just wished that she had a friend, a friend who made her felt like a winner. A friend who…

"Look out below!" A voice exclaimed in delight, which snapped her attention away from her homework.

Marinette's mouth hung open when she saw a cat boy slide down the banister. He landed gracefully on all fours, like the cat he was, and his feline eyes landed on her. Marinette knew about the miraculous cats, but she had never seen one before, so she didn't care what her father said about manners. What she was seeing was simply miraculous. He had pointy ears, also his body was covered with light black fur, and he had a long black tail. Marinette bit her lip as he now approached her. The boy cocked his head, in simple curiousness, while she, in turn, cocked her head as well. Slowly, ever so slowly, Marinette dared to put her hand out. She let out a giggle before he nuzzled her hand with his nose.

"Human!" He beamed up excitingly and she noticed he had pretty green eye.

"I'm Marinette, also yes, I'm human. And I come in peace…" She drawled lamely as she now fiddled with her hands.

"Marinette, purrty name, for a purrty human like you. I've never really interacted with a human before, this is cattastic! Hey, do you want to be my furry partner in crime?" He questioned while Marinette tried to cool her blush from his compliments.

"I can't, my father is having a meeting with Mr. Agreste in there. I'm not allowed to move from this chair," Marinette answered in defeat.

Who wanted to hang out with a goody two shoes, anyways?

"Don't worry, I'm very good at puursuading, so you don't have to worry about getting into trouble. I would really love to give you a tour…." He pleaded and Marinette knew that she was about to cave in.

"Purrty please!" He begged with such an adorable pout, which was her weak point to cave into something.

"Okay…" Before she could even blink, her soft hand now touched a furry claw, and she looked up at him with a shy smile.

"Catastic, my name is Chat Noir by the way!" He beamed while he dragged the bluenette to the elevator.

XXX

Chat Noir already liked Marinette the moment he picked up on her scent. She smelled like vanilla and buttercream. Miraculous cats couldn't taste anything sweet, except for inhaling the sweet fragrances, but the way he breathed in her scent… he could almost taste her sweetness with the tip of his tongue. He could also pick up on her strong emotion and it reminded him of his own hidden emotion. Loneliness. He had his pride, he was the prince, but he was condemned to keep a distance. The pride used to be such livelier when his mother was still alive. Now, you lived in fear and the pride had a hidden darkness to it. Chat knew a drastic change was coming, his older brother Felix informed him, but a change he wasn't sure of. All he could gather that he had to choose a side. As cliche as it sounded in his head, you either chose the good side or the bad side.

The ding sound of the elevator drove him out of his perturbed thoughts. Chat gleefully brought her out of the elevator and had to hold in a purr that she still held his claw. He did have a human form, although his hands felt calloused, not soft like Marinette's. He wanted to nuzzle her hands on his cheek, so that his scent was all over her, and no one got to touch her soft hands. Although, a lot of the miraculous cats were sleeping because it was nap time, which meant that he didn't have to worry about any other cats bothering her. Suddenly, his senses heightened, and a wicked grin came upon his face.

"Are you hungry?" He asked and she slowly nodded her head.

They went into the huge kitchen before he warned her that they had to be quiet. Chat said that their lazy chef, Plagg, made a bunch of his various homemade cheeses in his special pantry. However, he was a selfish jerk, and he never shared his precious cheese. Chat and her both stifled their laughter at the fat cat. Plagg was on a stove, with his big belly flopped out, while he held a huge cheddar cheese against his mouth. Plagg kept muttering incoherent words, which Chat couldn't make out, but Chat bet it was another sonnet of how Plagg lived for cheese. They tiptoed towards the pantry door and Chat was relieved that it wasn't locked. They quickly entered inside before the smell of cheese clogged his senses. He laughed at Marinette's expression when she saw the cupboards filled with cheeses. Chat slightly admired that Plagg had the patience to actually alphabetized the brand of cheeses.

"I think Plagg should just marry his cheese," Marinette stated with a tease in her tone.

"Yeah, he should, but I don't think Plagg could choose just one," Chat answered as he started to peel out some pieces for them with his claws.

"I don't know, he and that cheddar cheese looked cozy, so that might be his one true love," Marinette retorted with a giggle.

"Where do you think their honeymoon would be at?" Chat questioned her as he approached her.

"Simple, his tummy, of course," She replied with a deadpanned tone before she ate a stringy cheese from him.

"Yummy, this is so good," Marinette moaned, which gave Chat a strange feeling like his inner cat was proud that he made Marinette content.

"So what made you come to the motel with your dad? Is it like bring your daughter to work day or something?" Chat had never been to a human school before. He really wanted to go to a human school, but he knew that would be out of the question.

"I have a cold, so I had to be taken out of school early," She answered lamely with a poor attempt with the sniffles.

"You're lying," Chat proclaimed because he didn't sense any sickness from her. She quickly looked the other way, which Chat didn't like at all. He gently tilted her head back and stared at her ocean blue eyes.

"Why did you lie?" Chat questioned gently.

"I hate school, I love to learn, but I just don't fit in with my classmates," Marinette confessed like she told him her deep dark secret.

"The only thing you need to worry about is to not forget about who you are," Chat advised her, which was the same advice his mother gave him once upon a time.

"What?" She spluttered with an emotional voice.

Chat whined when he heard Marinette so upset. He morphed himself to his true cat form, which made him look like a panther cub. He slowly laid himself on her lap before she hesitantly petted him. Chat always felt better when his parents went into their furs and he could snuggle against them. He missed the contact badly, it was a cat thing, which was no human could understand. He purred in delight as she scratched behind his ears. Oh yeah, that's the spot, Chat hummed in appreciation.

"Have you ever felt like you want to be yourself, but your own insecurities would hold yourself back?" Marinette thoughtfully asked and then she began to unravel.

Chat listened attentively about herself. She was such a fascinating human, people who didn't want to be her friend, he thought they were stupid. Chat realized they held a compatible match with the same desire. Chat wanted to be Chat all the time, even though his real name was Adrien, and he had to act the perfect golden boy human. However, when he was Chat Noir, he could express himself without being afraid to hide who he was. A proud and mischievous miraculous cat. He knew Marinette had a radiant confidence inside of her, she just needed someone to help her find it.

"Thank you for listening, sorry, you must be bored listening to me ramble," Marinette babbled while Chat nestled himself closer to her.

Chat needed to transform back, so that Marinette would be reassured about how furry adorable she was. Suddenly, they both held their breath when the ground shook beneath them and a boisterous yawn reverberated behind the door.

Chat remembered a word his father used one time and Chat repeated the foreign word back like an echo. His father and mother told him it was not an appropriate word, especially for a young cub like himself. He begged to differ, he thought it was good time to say this word in his head, despite his parents warning. Fuck. On the other hand, Chat purrfurred his own embraviation for the word, which was Furrck.

"What are we going to do, Chat?" Marinette asked him as she looked warily at the door.

Chat made a noise as he beckoned her with his tail to follow him. He clawed at a hidden vent before he opened it with his sharp claws. He glanced back at her and made a noise to follow him. Marinette looked at him like he was crazy, which made him frown at her, Chat was sure she could fit in there. However, his partner in crime begged to differ.

"Chat, there's no way I can fit in there, it's-" She was cutoff when the door flanged open.

"I thought I smelled a rat, argh, when I get my claws on you!" Plagg yelled as he ran to them.

Whatever complaint Marinette had about Chat's idea, she zipped it and miraculously got herself in the vent. Chat and her both quickly crawled through the vent, trying not to glance back. Chat dared to look back and began to laugh loudly. Marinette looked at him confused before she laughed as well to what was behind her. Plagg's chubby face was stuck in the vent and he glared menacingly at the laughing two.

"Oh, wait till I tell your father about this, you conniving prince! I'll make sure you'll eat raw fish from now on," Plagg threatened, which went in and out the other for Chat.

Unknown to him, Marinette stared at him for the revelation that Chat was indeed a prince of his pride. His focus and strides was on a room where Marinette would go rabbid. The costume room and the ballroom that would change their fates forever.


End file.
